Rare Book Monthly

San Francisco Book and Paper Fair February 4-5

- by Bruce E. McKinney

A revitalized San Francisco Book, Print & Paper Fair February 4-5

The San Francisco Book and Paper Fair, featuring 184 exhibitors, will be held in San Francisco at the Concourse Exhibition Center on Saturday and Sunday February 4th and 5th. The fair brings together a community of dealers that spans the fifty states, Canada, and England.

According to Nancy Johnson, who has assumed management of the fair, the emphasis this year is on broadly promoting the event to ensure success for both exhibitors and attendees.

San Francisco and the Bay Area have long supported the book trade but changing demographics and broadening options for buying have slowly diminished interest and attendance. Ms. Johnson, in assuming command of one of the most popular book fairs in the nation, is mounting an aggressive campaign to increase attendance. Such fairs remain a vital link in the gestation of new collectors.

The hours are:

Saturday 10:00 am to 7:00 pm

Sunday 11:00 am to 5:00 pm

Admission is $10 and good for both days.

A full catalogue of participants is available via this link and can be downloaded to an iPhone or other smart phone. A printed catalogue will be available at the door.

<b>19th Century Shop:</b> Charles Darwin on sexuality and the transmission of hereditary characteristics: Autograph Letter Signed to Lawson Tait. Down, 17 January [1877].

<b>19th Century Shop:</b> MILTON, JOHN. <i>Paradise Lost. A Poem written in ten books.</i> London: 1667. A very rare example with the contemporary binding untouched and with a 1667 title page.

<b>19th Century Shop:</b> Hamilton secures the ratification of the Constitution: <i>The Debates and Proceedings of the Convention of the State of New-York, assembled at Poughkeespsie, on the 17th June, 1788.</i>

<b>19th Century Shop:</b> The social contract “Man is born free, and everywhere he is in chains”: ROUSSEAU, JEAN-JACQUES. <i>Principes du Droit Politique [Du Contract Social]</i>. Amsterdam: Michel Rey, 1762

<b>19th Century Shop:</b> “The first English textbook on geometrical land-measurement and surveying”: BENESE, RICHARD. <i>This Boke Sheweth the Maner of Measurynge All Maner of Lande…</i>

<b>Bonhams New York: Fine Books and Manuscripts Including the World of Hilary Knight. December 5, 2018</b>

<b>Bonhams, Dec 5:</b> KNIGHT, HILARY. The Original Portrait of Eloise that Hung at the Plaza Hotel. $100,000 to 150,000